Artist:
The Vines Album: Winning Days
Label:Capitol
Records Rating: Reviewer: Chad Malone
In the 50's-70's we had a UK explosion of bands being exported to the US; The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, The Rolling Stones, so on and so forth. Oddly these bands proved to be some of the leaders, innovators, and milestones in America's music history. A few years ago, we had another attack, not necessarily from UK bands, but aptly titled the "The" band explosion. We were introduced to bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Hives, and The Vines (to name a few.) When music was at it's low point with pop music ruling the world, these bands came in and had a hand in making a slow revolution to bringing the rock genre back to life. Now a few years later, only a few of these bands have outlasted what has now once again become a cliché of having the word "the" in front of the band name. The leader in these bands was definitely The White Stripes, but The Hives quickly faded from America's memory, and The Strokes hit us with their second album not too long ago and made a small stint with it, but that too has faded already. Now we are introduced to the sophomore release of The Vines, "Winning Days." Will it stand the test of time?
After listening to this album, I was very impressed and very entertained, but at the same time I felt as though I had heard it before on their first album. I don't want to say that they completely replicated what they did with their first album, but there isn't TOO much of a sense of evolution here. In fact, when I first popped in this CD while I was driving, so all of the track names weren't available to me. When song number four came on I thought to myself "This song sounds a LOT like Autumn Shade from their last album." But then I got home and took a look at the tracks, and saw that it was named "Autumn Shade II." It made me feel better knowing it was an intentional move. This album has the same sense that the first one does in that it has the perfect mixture of rock your sox off songs and the slower melodic songs.
The first single from this album "Ride" is getting a lot of airplay, and proves to be a good follow up to "Get Free" and "Outtathaway!" The Vines also premiered their song "F.T.W." online towards the end of last year. One thing with both of their albums is that you can really hear the influence that other bands have had on them. Especially in "Winning Days," the title track from this album, seems as though it could have been a lost Beatles song. But I'm wiling to bet that if you enjoyed their first album, you would thoroughly enjoy this one as well. And for such a cheap price at Best Buy right now, it's a great pick up.
Will these guys stand the test of time? I really think that will be determined upon their second single from this album. I really think that if they opted for a slower song for a single, that the radio audiences who don't own their album would see that they have more versatility than just rocking out.
Artist:
The Vines
